Orbán boycotts parliament session called to ratify Swedish Nato bid

Orbán had promised Nato’s secretary genera he would urge parliament to ‘conclude the ratification at the first possible opportunity’. Photograph: Johanna Geron/Reuters

Hungary’s ruling Fidesz party has boycotted a session of parliament called by the opposition to ratify Sweden’s Nato membership, even as a group of western ambassadors arrived in the building to urge a vote.

For months, the Hungarian prime minister, Viktor Orbán, repeatedly promised his counterparts within Nato that the country would not be last to sign off on Sweden’s membership.